Mikaeel Kular mum accused of beating him to death

THE mum of Mikaeel Kular has appeared in court charged with murdering her son and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Rosdeep Adekoya, 34, appeared before judge Lord Boyd at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The Crown alleges that she murdered her son after assaulting him on various occasions between January 12 and January 15 2014.

Prosecutors also claim that she attempted to defeat the ends of justice by lying to police officers who were investigating her child’s disappearance.

Ms Adekoya, whose address was given in legal documents as being a prisoner at Cornton Vale in Stirlingshire, did not enter a plea during the two minute long hearing.

She was dressed in black, wore glasses and sat beside two security officers during proceedings.

On Tuesday, prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice QC told the court that there had been discussions between the Crown and Ms Adekoya’s legal representatives.

Mr Prentice said that these discussions were ongoing and asked for the case to be continued to a hearing at Edinburgh High Court later this month.

Ms Adekoya’s defence advocate Brian McConnachie told the court that he wouldn’t be entering a plea at this stage on his client’s behalf.

He added: “It would be of assistance to parties that a plea is not entered at this stage.”

Ms Adekoya, originally of Drylaw, Edinburgh, was arrested by police following claims that her child disappeared from her home in the city in January. Members of the local community helped police search for Mikaeel shortly before his body was discovered in woodland in Fife.

According to a legal document that has been placed before the court, prosecutors allege that on various occasions between January 12 and January 15 2014 at her home in Edinburgh, Ms Adekoya assaulted her three-year-old son by repeatedly seizing hold of him and repeatedly punching him on the head and body.

It is claimed that her actions caused his body to strike against a hard object and that she inflicted blunt force injuries on his head and body. Prosecutors also claim that she failed to seek medical attention for him and that she murdered him.

The second charge alleges that between January 14 and January 17 2014, at her Edinburgh address, and an area of woodland behind the house in Kirkcaldy, and at Drylaw Police Office in Edinburgh, Ms Adekoya attempted to defeat the ends of justice.

Prosecutors allege that she did this in a bid to avoid being detected, arrested and prosecuted for the crime.

It is alleged that she wrapped the dead body of Mikaeel in a duvet cover before placing his dead body in a suitcase and transport said suit case in her car.

Prosecutors claim that she transported Mikaeel’s remains from Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy.

It is also claimed that once there, Adekoya took the suitcase to an area of woodland behind the house, hid it under a bush and attempted to further conceal it by covering it with woodland debris and foilage.

It is also alleged that in call to the emergency services she pretended that between the evening of January 15 2014 and the morning of January 16 2014 that Mikaeel got out of his bed, climbed onto a stool, unlocked the front door of the house, left said house of his own accord and that he was a missing person.

Prosecutors say she did this and caused a police investigation to be launched into his disappearance and that a major search was then made for him which involved police officers, members of the fire service, the coastguard, the mountain rescue, air support and members of the public.

Lord Boyd allowed the case to continue at the end of proceedings on Tuesday.

The case against Ms Adekoya will next call at the High Court in Edinburgh on July 25 2014.